Our video series continues with our look at September, a notorious film in Allen’s catalogue. It is by far his smallest, and his lowest earning. He also remade the film immediately after he shot it with a new cast. The film polarised his audience in 1987 when it was released, but as the decades wore on, this serious drama which Allen doesn’t appear doesn’t seem so strange.
Here’s 10 things about September, including:
1. The fight against colourisation that Allen fought the same year
2. The influence of Anton Chekhov
3. The influence of Lana Turner
4. The studio setting
5. The studio trickery
6. The first, aborted, version
7. The second, finished, version
8. The third, released, version
9. The brilliant Elaine Stritch
10. The brilliant Bernie Leighton
A lot of this came from our research in putting together our book The Woody Allen Watcher’s Guide, which features much more trivia about this film and many of Allen’s others.
Check out all the videos we’ve made so far.
2 Comments
September is a great film. Granted, you do have to be in the mood to watch it, but if you are, you’ll feel rewarded by it. It would be a great play. To me, whats intriguing about the piece is the age range of the characters. You have older characters reminiscing about past triumphs and tragedies, missed opportunities and unfulfilled dreams etc. In healthy contrast, you have younger characters with their hopes and dreams and accompanying emotional baggage in their lives. Its a complete piece. The personal and professional victories and defeats of these characters are universal.
GO WOODY!!!!
Sandy Bates, I thought maybe there were no bigger fans of Woody than William and myself, but perhaps I was wrong! Appreciate your great posts!